One of Britain’s corporate giants warned yesterday that it may leave Scotland rather than risk the economic chaos that could be triggered by independence.

Standard Life, a fund manager that looks after nearly £250billion of investors’ money, said it will take ‘whatever action necessary’ to protect its customers.

Based in Edinburgh since it was founded in 1825, the company has 3.7million customers in the UK – but only 10 per cent live in Scotland. The company, which employs 5,000 people north of the border, is establishing ‘additional registered companies’ in England into which it will transfer parts of its Scottish operations ‘if necessary’.

First Minister Alex Salmond's plans for independence suffered a double blow as business raised concerns about its impact

Gerry Grimstone, chairman of Standard Life, said the company was ‘strictly apolitical’, but must act to protect its customers.

‘Scotland
has been a good place from which to run our business and to compete
around the world,’ he said. ‘We very much hope that this can continue.

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‘But,
if anything were to threaten this, we will take whatever action
necessary, including transferring parts of our operations from
Scotland, in order to ensure continuity and to protect the interests of
our stakeholders.’

Standard
Life said it is worried about a number of ‘material issues’, such as
the currency that will be used in Scotland, membership of the European
Union and personal taxes.

It
might even move its headquarters from Edinburgh to London as well as
many of its different businesses. A source told the BBC: ‘There is no
stock exchange up here [in Scotland] and we are not sure we would wish
to become a foreign-registered company on the London Stock Exchange.’

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said it was 'no wonder' that business were worried about independence

In
a second blow for Alex Salmond’s plans, Royal Bank of Scotland,
another large employer, raised its concerns over the possibility of a
‘yes’ vote. In its financial results, it raised fears about the
‘significant impact’ of independence on all aspects of the bank,
including its ability to raise money.

The
credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s warned yesterday that ‘a
large part’ of Scotland’s massive financial services industry could run
for the exit. It said Scotland would be ‘hard-pressed’ to borrow money
as easily as it does today if it loses the pound, and described the
challenges of independence as ‘significant’.

Danny
Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said he doubts that
Standard Life and RBS will ‘be the last’ to voice their fears about
independence. ‘These businesses are reasonably and fairly setting out
the consequences of the SNP’s dangerous, risky and unclear plans for
independence,’ he said.

Nick
Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, said the growing anxiety among
employers in Scotland should be no surprise given the SNP’s failure to
‘spell out what they mean by independence’.

Former
Chancellor Alistair Darling, who leads the anti- independence Better
Together campaign, said yesterday that independence will cost jobs.

‘This
is the reality of Scotland leaving the UK and losing the UK pound,’ he
said. ‘Companies like Standard Life rely on the strength, security and
stability of the UK.’

John
Swinney, the Scottish Finance Secretary, said: ‘We are very happy to
engage with the company [Standard Life] to address the issues raised and
we look forward to the company continuing to play its part in building
that strong Scottish economy in the future.’